Commentary

GM will have at least a year advantage to make a case for the Chevrolet Bolt. Will it be enough to convince EV fans?

The big automotive news since the beginning of this month has been all about the Tesla Model 3, the next vehicle coming from America’s electric car manufacturer.

On March 31, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a prototype of the compact sedan and immediately tens of thousands of people placed $1,000 refundable deposits on a car that won’t arrive until late 2017 at the earliest.

By late last week, the so-called pre-orders (advanced orders) totaled 325,000 and included early adopters from around the world. That’s a staggering number of people demonstrating interest in a car some believe will help make electric vehicles mainstream within the next few years.

Although Tesla is receiving much-deserved press, perhaps the attention should now turn to GM and what this company is doing to bring electric vehicles to the masses.

2017 Chevrolet Bolt.

2017 Chevrolet Bolt

Indeed, the Chevrolet Bolt is on its way and will arrive on the market before 2016 comes to a close — a full year before the Tesla Model 3 arrives. For this reason alone, the Bolt is worth discussing.

Furthermore, there is a very good chance the Model 3 will miss its target date — we’ve heard Musk set ambitious goals in the past, only to delay them by months, if not years. Witness the long wait for the Tesla Model X SUV, arriving on the market more than two years after Musk promised.

Mainstream Electric Vehicles

Both the Chevrolet Bolt and the Tesla Model 3 will do something that no other electric vehicle has done thus far, including the groundbreaking Nissan Leaf. Specifically, range anxiety, an important detriment to consumer consideration, will be largely alleviated thanks to improvements in battery technologies.

In fact, GM promises 200 miles of range for the Bolt or about twice the distance of the Nissan Leaf’s current limits. Similarly, the new Tesla will deliver a projected 215 miles of electric driving. That both vehicles are priced in the $35,000 to $38,000 range is important too — with federal and state incentives available to qualified buyers, the two models may parallel the cost of buying a similar gasoline-powered model.

Electric Vehicle Proviso

Before we become all giddy about electric vehicle mainstreaming it is important to note one highly significant caveat — the range numbers are realized when an electric vehicle is operated in optimum weather conditions, such as at 77 degrees Fahrenheit. At the extremes, especially in sub-freezing driving, vehicle range may fall dramatically.

For instance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that fuel economy for hybrid electric vehicles “…can drop about 31% to 34%…” under extreme conditions. Given that hybrids and electric vehicles share similar battery componentry, that 200-mile range may fall to 130 miles.

That’s still better than the range limits for today’s crop of mainstream electric vehicles, nevertheless it is a constitutive matter that should not be easily dismissed.

On Closer Inspection

As for the Chevrolet Bolt, what we have here is a five-passenger, front-wheel drive five-door compact electric vehicle. Its battery, motor, and drive unit will be manufactured in Incheon, Korea. Final assembly will take place in Orion Township, Michigan.

The Bolt’s battery system is composed of a rechargeable storage system comprised of multiple linked modules. The 60-kilowatt lithium-ion system contains 288 cells. As for the drive system, a single permanent magnetic drive motor and gear set will be utilized.

In all, the Bolt should provide 200 miles of electric driving range, make 200 horsepower with an output of 266 foot-pounds of torque. This model’s 0-to-60 mph time should come in at just under 7 seconds with a top speed of 91 mph.

Taking long trips with an electric vehicle means finding a public charging station and making the connection. Although a 240-volt connection adds 50 miles of range in under two hours, customers will be on the hunt for an SAE combo DC fast charge connection, what adds 90 miles in about 30 minutes. That’s long enough for most people to take a meal break before continuing on with their journey.

Tesla Model 3 Advantages

Some people have argued that the Tesla Model 3 has several advantages over the Bolt, including its slightly longer range as well as the free Tesla charging network. Certainly, an estimated 15-mile range advantage is welcome, but it isn’t significantly better than what the Bolt should deliver.

And as for connecting to the Tesla supercharger network, Model 3 owners will have access. What isn’t known yet is whether they’ll have to pay for it points out Teslarati. With far more customers queuing to tap the network, imagine the lines that may form in some places, especially in car-crazy California.

Fully Revealed Bolt

Another matter not settled with the Model 3 is what the interior will look like. Tesla’s introduction focused on the vehicle’s exterior (sans grille) and provided only a cursory examination of the cabin. Musk took to Twitter in the days following the big unveiling and addressed those concerns, noting that a followup reveal will show what the automaker has in mind.

As for the Bolt, GM has revealed several things about this EV, especially from a technology standpoint.

Specifically, the Bolt will feature a 10.2-inch Chevrolet MyLink color touchscreen display. GM describes it as a customizable, widget-based with a flip-board style operation.

A rear view camera will be standard, but what may be most fascinating is “surround vision” providing a bird’s-eye view of what’s around the Bolt, a safety advantage realized when driving at low speeds as well as when parking.

App, Navigation, and Gamification

Chevrolet Bolt owners will also have access to the MyChevrolet Mobile App, proving owner and vehicle information and functions, including remote start, vehicle charge status, cabin pre-conditioning, and other features.

To aid drivers as they search for charging stations, the Bolt’s navigation system will be geared toward finding the most efficient routes and provide locations of nearby charging stations, if needed. And in acknowledging the growth of vehicle connectivity and “gamification,” Bolt owners will eventually be able to “compete” with each other by comparing driving styles, including identifying who is the most efficient. That feature won’t become available until sometime after the Bolt arrives.

Chevrolet v. Tesla

GM is a pioneer in electric vehicles, although its 1990s EV-1 never made it into full production. Introducing its plug-in hybrid electric Chevrolet Volt in 2011 has given this automaker an important advantage over most other traditional automakers.

On the other hand, Tesla Motors is the industry’s disruptive force and so far is winning the hearts and minds of the media, the people who plan to buy the Model 3, as well as individuals who might never have considered an EV in the past, but are intrigued by all things Tesla. GM will have at least a year’s lead time to make a case for the Chevrolet Bolt for what may very well be the most important product introduction of our day.

Volkswagen is in a world of hurt, but that pain is entirely of the company’s own doing. While some have been making pronouncements that the automaker as we know it is finished, others believe that something can be salvaged. I, for one, stand in the latter camp. To that end, there are several conditions Volkswagen must meet in a bid to win back customers. It all begins with transparency and continues by building trust.

1. Never deflect blame. Thus far, Volkswagen has accepted blame for the emissions scandal, although it does not yet revealed who is to blame. Affected customers don’t care — they want to be made whole. There will come a point when we’ll learn precisely how the cheating scandal was conceived — a clear and unequivocal response from Volkswagen is the transparency required at this point.

2. Buy back the affected cars. Unless the fix Volkswagen creates preserves both performance and fuel economy, diesel customers will always feel that they were deceived. Drivers operated their vehicles under the impression that their cars were clean and efficient. Volkswagen breached that trust. Therefore, providing a buyback program is a start with customers, then free to buy a heavily discounted new Volkswagen or take their check to a competing manufacturer. Unless Volkswagen offers an aggressive program in the United States, its hopes of ever improving beyond a market toehold here will be set back, perhaps permanently.

3. Drop the price of new diesels across the board. Volkswagen is the largest seller of diesel cars in America. Shoppers spanning all brands will wonder if any diesels are worth the cost. Volkswagen cannot do much about general perceptions, but they can begin to change impressions for the Volkswagen brand. One way to do that is to offer diesels as a no extra cost option, perhaps for one year. Certainly, Volkswagen will take a hit with each sale, but they’ll build goodwill and allow owners to reap the highest residual values.

4. Extend the powertrain warranty. So far as we know, the diesel scandal has nothing to do with the engine’s long-term durability. The problem has everything to do with manipulating emissions testing to deliver results that are a flat-out lie. Volkswagen can build customer confidence by matching the Hyundai-Kia 10-year, 100,000 mile warranty on all of its models, regardless of the engine type. Also, they should back date the warranty coverage to 2009 for the affected diesels that customers choose to keep. Chances are expanding the warranty coverage won’t cost Volkswagen much, but it could earn the brand much-needed respect and the sales edge that has eluded it in the US for decades.

5. Back strong emissions standards worldwide. The Volkswagen scandal exposes the weak and inconsistent testing practices of the EPA and other government environmental agencies around the world. A related matter that will need to be tackled is just who should be doing the testing. Likely, we’ll witness all automakers consenting to government testing instead of being allowed to submit their own tests for approval. This change should include the EPA mileage testing. As a result, Volkswagen must back tough emissions testing or at least provide evidence that their vehicles don’t contribute to smog and climate change, at least at elevated levels. Certainly, this a topic rife with political posturing and gamesmanship, but Volkswagen lost whatever edge it had before the scandal was made known. It would be best to back tougher emissions and find other ways to demonstrate environmental leadership than to give any appearance that they’re not sorry for polluting with abandon.

Time Will Tell

For Volkswagen, time is of the essence, especially as they restructure the company, determine the cause behind the scandal, and work diligently to regain the trust of their customers.

There is a chance Volkswagen will remain a permanent “also ran” player in the US market, but they dare not abandon it. The company is heavily invested with its lone US manufacturing plant in Tennessee and also has two other important brands to protect, Audi and Porsche.

Speaking of the other brands, maintaining a safe distance apart from the Volkswagen brand is critically important. In addition, Audi A3 owners with the 2.0-liter TDI engine will also need to be made whole.